The Destruction of Guinea Street

Another of Exeter's city centre streets and another story involving the complete loss of a historical cityscape. The watercolour above is a rare depiction of Guinea Street c1900, looking towards its junction with South Street. The spire of the then recently rebuilt church of St Mary Major is in the background. To the left is the monumental main facade of Charles Fowler's Lower Market, the street still lined with a number of timber-frame properties from the 1600s and 1700s. Nothing remains today of any of the buildings shown. The map below right shows Guinea Street and the surrounding area c1900, at about the same time that the watercolour was executed. The Lower Market is clearly visible as is Milk Street, with its little obelisk and public square, as well as Sun Street and the entrance from South Street into Guinea Street. Very narrow lanes led off into semi-hidden places like Rowe's Court or provided shortcuts into the surrounding streets. The parts of the map highlighted in red show areas that were affected during World War Two and which have since been rebuilt.

The street's name is recorded in 1320 as 'Gennestrete', in 1421 as 'Gyne Stret' and in 1610 as 'Gennystrete'. It's thought that 'Guinea' is derived from 'ginnel', a word for a narrow alley or passageway that is still used in some Northern dialects and which is believed to originate in Old Norse. Situated off South Street and sandwiched between George Street and Sun Street, Guinea Street was part of Exeter's sprawling West Quarter, one of the city's most significant residential and commercial districts throughout the Middle Ages. Before that the area covered by Guinea Street had been within the footprint of the mid-1st century Roman legionary fortress, later transformed into a civitas cAD 80. A "mass of masonry" from a Roman building was discovered in October 1838 when new curb stones were laid in Guinea Street and various pieces of Roman pottery and coins were unearthed throughout the 19th century. It's now thought that the masonry discovered both then and since, as well as the remains of tessellated and concrete floors, belonged to buildings associated with the Roman public bath complex sited near the present-day Deanery on the other side of South Street.

A quarter of the street was demolished in 1835 for the construction of the Lower Market. The market's 127ft (39m) Guinea Street facade above would've dominated the narrow medieval street in much the same way that the Higher Market's rear facade towered over Goldsmith Street. The market was set back from the original line of the street frontages it replaced, doubling the width of Guinea Street in the immediate area outside the market itself but leaving the portion that exited onto South Street intact, an effect that can easily be seen in the watercolour view at the top of this post. No great historical events occurred in Guinea Street and apart from the Lower Market it's unlikely that many great buildings were ever erected there, but for centuries it had witnessed those scenes of everyday life that are the common currency of human experience, from the time of the Romans up until the present day.

For example, on 29 January 1807 a tremendous storm of hurricane-like proportions descended on the city, blowing several chimneys down onto the roof of the Royal Oak inn on Guinea Street, destroying the roof and killing a man named Humphreys, "a musician in the band belonging to the Montgomery Militia" who was in a room on the ground floor; on 14 October 1838 Julia Lamerton, the wife of a builder, died in Guinea Street and was remembered as "an affectionate and tender mother"; in December 1844 "Mr Morris Thurston of Guinea Street" died at his house having reached the incredible age of 108 years-old and who never allowed anyone inside his house for 60 years ; in 1856 John Webster was charged with leaving a waggon and two horses in Guinea Street and was fined 1 shilling; on 21 February 1859 Mary Smale was sent to prison for a week for "using abusive language in Guinea Street"; in September 1868 firemen had to put out a fire that was "raging in an uninhabited house in the lane leading from Sun Street to Guinea Street" and on 18 January 1874 a daughter was born to Mr and Mrs Chapple, etc. etc. People lived and worked and died in Guinea Street as they had for hundreds of years.

In the 19th century alone there existed in Guinea Street the Golden Lion Inn, the Royal Oak, the New Market Inn and the Pestle and Mortar, of dubious repute, and the premises of JT Burgess & Son, an ironmongers who were well-known to local poultry farmers and bee-keepers. The company of Burgess & Son had existed in Guinea Street for many years before its premises were destroyed in 1942. (The shop they operated from is visible to the right in the watercolour at the top of this post.)

On 04 May 1942 Exeter was blitzed as a reprisal for the RAF's attack on the Hanseatic port of Lübeck in Germany and Guinea Street was completely destroyed, along with much of the surrounding area. Only the outer walls of the Lower Market remained standing, being made of stone, until they were foolishly demolished in the early 1960s. The photograph above right © Express & Echo shows Guinea Street, highlighted in red, several months after the devastating air-raid, the remains of one of the corner towers of the Lower Market clearly visible, pedestrians still walking on the old street's surviving pavements. Part of South Street is in the foreground, a faint trace of the very narrow George Street just discernible to the far right, running parallel with Guinea Street.

It's impossible to say exactly what was lost in Guinea Street. Like much of the city at the time of the Second World War, no detailed survey had been undertaken of the street's buildings at the time of their destruction. The bombing uncovered a previously hidden 14th century building in nearby Milk Street so it's likely that properties of similar antiquity had survived in Guinea Street up until 1942.

The area was thoroughly redeveloped in the post-war period, although at least in Guinea Street the basic medieval street plan was almost retained intact. Before 1942 the street had a slight bend in it but after the war this was straightened out and what had been the junction with South Street was reduced to a short covered pedestrian passage above left. Now the eastern end of the street terminates visually with the backs of the post-war buildings on South Street.

The real problem is the extremely poor quality of the post-war architecture. The area once occupied by the Lower Market is now an NCP car park. Brick-built and utilitarian, it has no redeeming features at all. The same can be said of the opposite side of the street, rebuilt in a style that is now common across much of the city centre: flat roofs and aluminium window frames randomly inserted into low-grade brick facades. The same type of building can be seen in long stretches of South Street, Paris Street, Sidwell Street, George Street, James Street, Market Street, Mary Arches Street, Bampfylde Street, Bude Street, Summerland Street, Verney Street and Cheeke Street. Anyone familiar with the Marsh Barton industrial estate on the outskirts of the city will recognise the style instantly.

The sad story of Guinea Street has been repeated across Exeter throughout the 20th century, either as a consequence of war or as the result of deliberate demolition, and its effect on the city's historical landscape has been disastrous. Comparing the photograph below with the watercolour at the top of this post, both from the same perspective, illustrates better than any words the sort of losses that Exeter has incurred over the course of the 20th century.

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Exeter Montage: 1942 and 2011

The following photographs all shows scenes of the aftermath of the Exeter Blitz of 1942 merged with views of the same streets today, e.g. Sidwell Street, above. I've tried to place the images of 1942 as closely as possible to their original position.

The High Street

The High Street

Fore Street

Paris Street

Paris Street

Sidwell Street

All of the black and white images are © Express & Echo

The Demolition of Goldsmith Street

Goldsmith Street escaped the bombs of 1942 but failed to survive the attention of Exeter City Council in the 1970s, a period that saw almost the entire street swept away in the name of redevelopment.

The photograph left © Devon County Council shows a rain-washed Goldsmith Street in the early 1930s. The view is towards the High Street from Paul Street (Webber's, a late-18th century building that was demolished in 1962 is just visible in the distance on the High Street, standing where Burger King is today).

On the immediate left is the late-17th century St Paul's church. Its main entrance was through an arched doorway directly off Goldsmith Street (near the woman with the umbrella). Further up on the same side is the enormous neo-Classical facade of the Higher Market, accessed via steps with wrought-iron hand-railings. On the right are the facades of numerous shops and buildings, an almost continuous line of street frontages broken only by the narrow entrance into Waterbeer Street further towards the High Street. Apart from two buildings (No. 3 & No. 4 Goldsmith Street) and the central portico of the Higher Market facade itself, every single building shown has since been deliberately demolished and a 1000-year-old street wiped off the map.

Wind the clock back over a millennium and people were walking along the route of Goldsmith Street in the 8th and 9th centuries as it was one of the streets laid down in the city by the Anglo-Saxons.

Gandy Street and wrecked Catherine Street are two other examples of Exeter's Saxon street plan. And before that Goldsmith Street was the site of barracks for the Imperial Roman Army when a fortress was established at Exeter in the mid-first century AD. From around the time of the Conquest in the 11th century until the construction of the Higher Market in the 1830s, Goldsmith Street's most distinctive features were probably the two small churches which stood sentinel at either end.

The medieval foundation of Allhallows was sited at the entrance into the High Street until it was demolished in 1906. St Paul's church was on the corner of Goldsmith Street with Paul Street from at least 1066 until its reprehensible demolition in 1936. The drawing above right shows the view into Paul Street from Goldsmith Street c1830. The tower of St Paul's church is easily visible. The buildings to the right of the church tower were to be demolished a few years later for the creation of the Higher Market. The twin-gabled property near to the tower and almost hidden by a pent roof was probably Flaye's Almshouses.

The street had been known for the number of goldsmiths' workshops since at least the 13th century. A document from 1291 names the church of Allhallows as the 'Ecclesia omnium sanctorum in Aurifabria' i.e. the church of All Saints where the gold-makers work.

Apart from the two churches, there were at least two other buildings of known historical significance in Goldsmith Street prior to the construction of the Higher Market. One was Flaye's Almshouses situated adjacent to St Paul's church. The almshouses were founded and endowed in 1634 by one-time mayor of Exeter Thomas Flaye. His widow, Elizabeth Flaye, continued the endowment in her will of 1667. The almshouses in Goldsmith Street appear to have consisted of a large two-storey building with twin gables and an arched entrance which was subdivided into four separate dwellings for the use of four poor widows. According to Jenkins, writing in 1806, over the arched entrance way were "the Founder's arms, impaled with those of his Wife, with an inscription alluding to the foundation; over them is a winged hourglass, with other emblems of mortality; and the date of their erection carved on a stone table; over the inner entrance is another inscription." The drawing above left © Devon County Council dates to c1827 and shows a high-status timber-framed merchant's house probably dating to the early 1600s which stood in Goldsmith Street, probably opposite the entrance into Waterbeer Street. It was perhaps one of the properties demolished in the widening of the street in the 1880s.

The image right shows a detail from Caleb Hedgeland's early-19th century model of Exeter. The houses which fronted onto Goldsmith Street are highlighted in red and the two churches are highlighted in purple with Allhallows to the top left and St Paul's to the bottom right. The rear of the barn-like 15th century hall of the Guildhall itself can be seen in the centre at the top.

A parliamentary report of 1834 refers to "a banqueting house and house of office" situated behind Flaye's Almshouses. It's possible that this banqueting house was the other building of particular interest in Goldsmith Street: the Tailors' Hall. Jenkins recorded that the guildhall of the Company of Tailors was adjacent to the almshouses and "consisted of a convenient Dwelling-house, with a handsome Hall, for their meetings". The Company of Tailors had been granted the use of the hall and the house by Jane Tuckfield, the widow of another of Exeter's mayors, John Tuckfield, in her will of 1568. According to Peter Thomas, the Exeter Company of Goldsmiths and Silversmiths had their inaugural meeting in the tailors' hall on 01 August 1701. (Exeter was one of only seven English cities that had its own hallmark for use on all silver and gold which had been assayed in the city. The assay office in Exeter was created in 1701 and introduced Exeter's own hallmark of a triple-towered castle. Since the 1570s the city had been using its own town mark of a capital 'X' surmounted by a crown).

One of Exeter's most talented goldsmiths was Richard Hilliard. He was the father of the prodigiously talented Nicholas Hilliard, goldsmith, jeweller and painter of the celebrated miniatures which depict the Tudor court of Elizabeth I. Richard Hilliard held the office of High Sheriff of Exeter in 1560 and was married to a daughter of John Wall, another goldsmith to whom he was apprenticed, and it was perhaps inevitable that his son was influenced by the intricate craftsmanship which he saw being executed in his father's workshop. The exact location of Richard Hilliard's workshop isn't known but it's possible that it was in Goldsmith Street, although there is evidence that Richard Hilliard lived in the parish of St George in the West Quarter. One of Hilliard senior's most accomplished surviving pieces is a communion cup made for St Sidwell's church in Sidwell Street around 1572. This very fine cup is manufactured from silver with delicate engraving around the gilt-edged rim and foot. It is currently displayed at the Royal Albert Memorial Museum in the city left. It's remarkable that this cup should've been made in Exeter by Richard Hilliard while his son was in London painting the portrait of Elizabeth I.

The almshouses and the tailors' hall were both demolished in the 1830s when the magnificent Higher Market was constructed. The 230ft (70m) neo-Classical frontage towered over the narrow street which would've still retained much of its medieval character. Entry into the market from Goldsmith Street was through a giant columned portico capped with a pediment. The floor of the interior of the market building was significantly higher than the street level outside necessitating the construction of a flight of steps to give access from Goldsmith Street. But the creation of the market also created its own problems.

Throughout the 19th century the street retained its narrow width and increased traffic from the Higher Market saw numerous carts and horse-drawn waggons trying to enter the street from both Paul Street, the High Street and Waterbeer Street. Another image from the early 1930s is shown above © Devon County Council. The Higher Market is to the right, the tower of St Paul's is just visible in the distance. The suggestion of a jettied first floor on the two properties to the far left suggests that they probably dated to c1600. The street remained unchanged until it was demolished in the 1970s. In 1852, a Mr Parish from Maddock's Row at the back of Paul Street "put back two feet the frontage of two houses situated opposite the market steps" in return for £26 paid to him by the Commissioners for Improvement. But the real catalyst for change seems to have been the death of 11-year-old Fanny Solomon, accidentally killed in an incident involving a falling ladder and a waggon in July 1871. The coroner reported that the "narrowness of Goldsmith Street, where there was considerable traffic" was a contributory factor and suggested that measures be taken to remedy the situation in order to "prevent a similar deplorable occurrence".

It was decided to widen Goldsmith Street by removing all of the properties between the corner of the High Street and the Higher Market itself. But it was a slow process. In 1875 Trewman's 'Exeter Flying Post' reported that the Commissioners had been in contact with the freehold owners of houses on the east side of Goldsmith Street and, "with one exception, they had found all ready to sell either the whole of the property or sufficient frontage to enable the scheme to be carried out." The great sticking point was the church of Allhallows itself. Despite being constantly threatened with demolition throughout the 19th century, the Dean and Chapter rejected plans for the church's removal, much to the annoyance of the city council.

Eventually, in the mid-1880s, all of the buildings between the church and the Higher Market, approximately 190ft (58m) of street frontage, were removed. Allhallows church clung on until it was eventually demolished in 1906. The demolition of St Paul's church followed in 1936. New buildings were constructed to replace those which had been demolished during the widening of the road. These included the fine neo-Classical facades of the Wool Hall and the Phoenix Inn. The properties rebuilt after the 1880s road-widening are shown to the right in the photograph above © Devon County Council. Apart from the loss of its two churches Goldsmith street remained almost untouched from then until the early 1970s. In the late-1960s plans were unveiled by Exeter City Council for a new shopping centre, plans which involved the removal of the street. And not just the removal of most of the street's buildings, some of which dated to the 1600s, but for the eradication of the street itself. Between 1971 and 1979 Goldsmith Street was practically bulldozed out of existence. Thomas Sharp's post-war plan for the area in 'Exeter Pheoenix' show that he envisaged the demolition of many of the buildings on the street anyway, except for the Higher Market and those properties rebuilt in the 1880s, with Goldsmith Street itself widened until it was not dissimilar to Queen Street in scale. This was then supposed to lead via a pedestrian subway under the High Street into the Cathedral Yard itself. The scheme was never implemented as Sharp foresaw but the buildings were demolished all the same.

The image right shows a detail from the 1905 map of Exeter overlaid onto a modern aerial view of the same area. The High Street entrance into Goldsmith Street is to the bottom right. Buildings demolished since 1905 are highlighted in red. Apart from the two churches at either end of the street, nearly all of the demolition occurred between 1971 and 1979. Only part of the Higher Market and Nos. 3 & 4 remain today, highlighted in purple.

The majority of the Higher Market's Goldsmith Street facade was demolished, irreparably defacing one of the finest 19th century market buildings in the west of England. The ground level outside its remaining entrance was raised, burying the base of the columns and destroying the careful proportions of what was left of George Dymond's original design. Apart from No. 3 and No. 4 Goldsmith Street, all the buildings on the side opposite the market were also destroyed, a number of which had been granted Grade II listed status and which, taken as a whole, accounted for one of the few areas of the city which still retained its pre-war atmosphere. There was No. 1 Goldsmith Street, a late-18th century building spread over four floors with pilasters at either side of the facade stretching from the first floor to the parapet at roof level. Despite being granted Grade II listed status in 1974 it was demolished in 1979. No. 13 Goldsmith Street was another listed building, 17th century in origin with an 18th century facade. Formerly the Bull Inn, it too was demolished. The neo-Classical facades of the Wool Hall and the Phoenix Inn were salvaged. Re-erected in a different position the modified Wool Hall facade now forms the entrance into Marks and Spencer. The relocated Phoenix Inn facade below left arches over the service entrance into the same building, minus the reclining figures which once lounged in the spandrels of the arch.

On a profound level the heritage of the city was simply obliterated: many of the destroyed properties in Goldsmith Street still respected the narrow burgage plots of their medieval predecessors. The remains of Roman buildings were discovered underneath 14th century pot shards.

The thousand-year-old entrance from Paul Street was built over with modern retail space (now WH Smith). None of the properties opposite the market were rebuilt, the result being an open public area with more retail space cutting the course of the street in half. Nearly 1000ft (300m) of pre-war street frontage was demolished and today only a quarter of the original course of the street remains, on which stands just two surviving pre-war buildings.

This was nothing to do with slum clearances or the Baedeker Blitz of 1942, or the immediate post-war reconstruction or of the construction of the inner bypass, or of the flood prevention scheme, all of which had already destroyed vast tracts of the city. As Gavin Stamp quite rightly claimed: "despite all the cruel losses of the Blitz, Exeter was still prepared to sweep away distinctive and interesting old buildings". Put into the context of the destruction which had preceded it, the decision to demolish Goldsmith Street so comprehensively is unfathomable and unforgivable. Had it been renewed with imaginative restoration of its buildings then the street would've been as popular with independent retailers and as characterful as Gandy Street is today.

As Peter Thomas states in his book 'Aspects of Exeter', Goldsmith Street is now just "a mere stump linking High Street to a pedestrian square":

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Deller's Cafe, Bedford Street

"Emily Trefusis and Charles Enderby were seated at a small table in Deller's Cafe in Exeter. It was half past three and at that hour there was comparative peace and quiet. A few people were having a quiet cup of tea, but the restaurant on the whole was deserted". The author is Agatha Christie and the book is 'The Sittaford Mystery' from chapter 25 entitled 'At Deller's Cafe'. Christie was a regular visitor to Exeter and the eponymous restaurant from chapter 25 was to become one of Exeter's most important 20th century buildings and one of its most popular.

Deller's was established in 1844 by the grocer Edwin Deller at Paignton, a small coastal town about 20 miles from the city, but the first Deller's cafe in Exeter didn't open until 1905. The building it originally occupied in the city was on the corner of St Martin's Lane and the Cathedral Yard, in the beautiful 18th century property that had been the first premises of the Exeter Bank (now the Michael Caines restaurant right). But within 10 years the firm was looking to expand into larger premises and a site just off the High Street had recently become available.

In 1912 the sprawling 17th century Half Moon inn had been demolished. The inn had occupied a large area on the corner of the High Street and Bedford Street, running all the way back to Catherine Street at the rear. The entrance into Bedford Street from the High Street was narrower than it is today and, prior to 1942, it opened out dramatically into the Georgian townhouses of Bedford Circus. Following the demolition of the Half Moon inn only part of the site was reused when a mostly single-storey structure was erected for Lloyds Bank on the corner of the High Street and Bedford Street. Deller's in Exeter saw its chance both to expand and to move into the commercial centre of the city.

The new cafe on Bedford Street was designed by the Paignton firm of Hyams and Hobgen in 1916 and proved to be one of Exeter's most extraordinary buildings. (Hyams and Hobgen had already completed the still extant Torbay Picture House in Paignton left and the surviving cinema shares some stylistic similarities with Deller's Cafe.)

The architects decided to take advantage of the single-storey Lloyds Bank building in Exeter by constructing the cafe both on top of the bank as well as on the open area left unoccupied towards Catherine Street at the rear. It was therefore possible to provide a ground floor main entrance into the cafe from Bedford Street as well as using all of the space above the bank that overlooked the High Street.

The building was a remarkable mixture of architectural styles. The exterior walls were built of red brick studded with a riot of large and small mullioned windows with dressed stone surrounds that evoked a sort of Jacobean revival complimented by the Dutch gables on the Bedford Street elevation and the single pointed gable on the High Street elevation. At first floor level, rounding the corner from the High Street into Bedford Street, was an enormous 21-light window framed by stone pilasters and surmounted by a lead-roofed dome decorated with wreathes. The main entrance in Bedford Street consisted of a gigantic Baroque scrolled pediment beneath which lounged two sculpted female figures with columns on either side. The photograph above © Express & Echo shows Deller's Cafe after the interior was damaged by fire in 1942. The walls up to roof height remained intact. The entrance from Bedford Street is on the left. The two Ionic columns to the far right overlooked the High Street and were part of the Lloyds Bank building on top of which much of the cafe was located. It was all demolished by the city council after the war.

But it was the interior that made Deller's such a renowned building. The main entrance led into a spectacular atrium that rose the full height of the building and which was lit from above through a glass roof (part of the atrium is shown in the postcard above and at the top of this post). Around the edges of the room were first and second floor balconies accessed from the ground floor via a wide oak staircase. Oak panelling clad the walls. Inset into the walls of the balconies were plaster reliefs of frolicking Rococo cherubs, each tiered gallery supported by columns whose capitals were decorated with instrument-playing female figures. Above the oak panelling ran a continuous sculpted frieze with diaphanous, robed figures interspersed with stylised trees, borrowing freely from both the pre-Raphaelites and the Art Nouveau movement, the frieze itself brightly painted in greens, reds, mauves and blues. The overall impression was one of sumptuous luxury and lavish ornamentation. From these galleries it was possible to see everything that happened in the cafe while a string quartet played from the floor below.

And there were other rooms, like the huge ballroom above with a sprung floor. The ballroom also had another coloured frieze and an ornate plasterwork ceiling divided into sections by intricately decorated ribs, and there was yet another large dining room with timber-framed panelling on the walls. The sculpted reliefs were by Arthur Glover, the paintwork was executed by James Williams and the plasterwork ceilings were created and installed by Jackson & Sons of London.

It was a remarkable building, not just unique in Exeter but possibly unique in the entire country. There was nothing else quite like it. In December 1916 Deller's in Bedford Street opened for business and between then and its demise in 1942 it gained a reputation as one of the finest cafes in England. As a building it featured in numerous architectural periodicals and journals throughout the 1920s and 1930s and had it survived into the 21st century it would've been one of the most notable early-20th century structures in the west of England on the strength of its interiors alone.

On 04 May 1942 Exeter was blitzed and the entire building was ignited from flaming debris as the High Street burned. By the following morning Deller's Cafe had been severely damaged by fire. As Peter Thomas states in his book 'Aspects of Exeter', "in spite of the roof and the floors having collapsed, there was enough left of this gabled brick building...to warrant preservation and rebuilding". It should be said that not all of the interior was destroyed. I've seen photos taken after the fire which prove that some significant portions of the interior decoration remained intact, including much of the ballroom with its plaster ceiling and coloured frieze. But, as with so many of Exeter's war-damaged structures, instead of reconstruction Deller's Cafe was "completely destroyed as a result of official policy" (Peter Thomas, 'Aspects of Exeter').

The city council swiftly authorised the total demolition of the remains. Bedford Street was widened and the original site of Deller's Cafe is now an open, pedestrianised area above. The loss of Deller's, a popular social meeting point, was a real blow to the citizens of Exeter. I've talked to several people who remember the pre-war city and they all cited Deller's as one of Exeter's most wonderful buildings and its presence is still missed even by those who never saw it.

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"Probably the best preserved group of late medieval houses in Exeter"

The quote comes from the city council's own 2002 conservation report for central Exeter and it's difficult to argue with the sentiment, even it does stretch the definition of 'medieval' to breaking point and beyond (the "best preserved group" of genuinely medieval houses is unquestionably in the Cathedral Close). In fact what we have in the High Street are eight properties, all with timber-frame cores, some of which date back to the first half of the 16th century and only two of which have retained their original street elevations (counting the pair at Nos. 41 and 42 as a single entity). The only genuinely medieval fabric is probably the cellar walls of Nos. 41 and 42 which could be the remains of the security wall built around the cathedral precinct in the late-13th century.

The wonderful photograph above © Petehem was taken from the top of the Marks and Spencer building on the corner with the High Street and Queen Street and captures like few others the atmosphere and visual appearance of the pre-war city. It's one of the relatively few areas of the city centre where you can point a camera and capture a wide urban landscape without seeing post-war intrusions.

All the buildings have had individual posts written about them and are from left to right as follows:

• No. 39 (17th century timber-frame core)
• No. 40 (17th century timber-frame core with an early brick facade)
• Nos. 41 & 42 (built as a pair, mid-16th century with medieval cellars)
• Nos. 43, 44 & 45 (all mid-to-late 16th century with much-altered facades)
• Nos. 46 & 47 (early-to-mid 16th century)

No. 40, Nos. 41 and 42, and No. 46 all have Grade II* listed status. The rest are Grade II. This tiny group is about as good as 16th and 17th century domestic architecture gets in Exeter. It's unfortunate that until relatively recently much of the city looked like this but now there are only a few paltry fragments left to suggest the importance of the city in the time of the Tudor or the Stuart monarchs.

Nos. 46 & 47, High Street

These two properties are the oldest surviving domestic houses on Exeter's High Street and, despite their radically different appearance, were built as a matching pair probably around 1530 or 1540. No. 46 especially (to the left in the photograph left) is an important survival for a number of reasons and the following post will focus primarily on No. 46, although much of what is written would've applied equally to No. 47 had its front elevation not been replaced in the 19th century.

The surviving Tudor timber facade of No. 46, despite much restoration, is believed to be the oldest surviving carved domestic street frontage in Devon. It is three storeys high, and although the shop front is modern at least it is subtle and respects the rest of the facade. The windows are also all 20th century in origin too but they are reasonably accurate reproductions of what was probably installed when the property was first constructed. In the 19th century the first-floor window had been replaced with three sash windows, the second-floor window with two square 9-light windows. See photograph below right).

The photograph right shows No. 46 c1900, prior to the restoration of the woodwork and the replacement of the altered windows. Nos. 43 and 44, also from the 1500s, are visible to the left. The second floor timbering is very interesting as it features unusual coving beneath the window divided vertically by uprights carved with a spiral design, the same design appearing horizontally beneath the coving. The coving terminates with carved brackets in the form of angel-like figures (the right-hand bracket is a modern addition to replace the lost original). At the top of the facade is a modillion cornice, added in the 18th century, behind which is the shallow hipped slate roof hardly visible from the street. There was probably a shallow gable originally which the modillion cornice replaced.

Another unusual aspect of the houses is the fact that, when first built, they were constructed of nothing but timber-framing. Most of the timber-frame houses built at this period in Exeter, and throughout Devon, had at least a party wall built of stone, an example of which is still visible to the side of No. 41 High Street and into which were set fireplaces, chimneys and perhaps a garderobe, as well as acting as a firewall in the event of a serious fire. Nos. 46 and 47 had no such wall, the fireplaces and chimneys rising vertically in an isolated stack where the two buildings joined. This lack of a mixed construction technique makes No. 46 a unique survival of its type in the entire county.

The photograph left shows a detail from the carved woodwork of the second floor coving of No. 46, including one of the sculpted brackets.

According to the Royal Albert Memorial Museum's website, the houses took the following form: they were both two rooms deep, with a shop on the ground floor behind which was a workshop or storage area. The finest room on the first floor would've been the fore hall, the room that overlooked the High Street, above which were the bed chambers.

It's thought that the windows originally extended across the entire width of the elevation to let in the maximum amount of light as well as being a display of wealth in their own right. There would've been a back block connected to the main house via an open gallery which probably functioned as a kitchen. This distinctive arrangement of a gallery with a back block was once relatively common in Exeter but few very examples now survive. The historically important No. 38 North Street was demolished in 1972. An unusual two-storied gallery survives at No. 18 North Street although the back block was destroyed by a bomb in 1942. The first-floor gallery which once connected No. 47 to its back block still survives, complete with its original balusters.

Another interesting aspect of No. 46 is the suggestion that the original entrance into the house was probably through the side wall, now obstructed by No. 45 High Street. No. 45 dates to c1600 and prior to its construction it was possible to walk through the High Street and into the Cathedral Yard via a narrow lane called Lamb Alley. The eastern side wall of No. 46 still has remains of external trefoil decoration and a blocked window, proving that it was once exposed to view.

In the early 19th century the facade of No. 47 was replaced, totally disguising the building's 16th century origins. An extra storey was added, set back from the main facade, and large casement windows were added along with some attractive Regency, Greek-style ironwork balconies. Both properties still contain internal features of interest, e.g. No. 46 has a late-17th staircase. No. 47 is a Grade II listed building while No. 46 received Grade II* status, the star reflecting its preserved 16th century facade.

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Nos. 43, 44 and 45, High Street

When the notable architect and Georgian specialist Sir A. E. Richardson visited Exeter in 1920 he correctly stated that "many sturdy relics of the past have been buried alive, and a fair proportion of houses belonging to the Tudor period still await investigation." Unfortunately the further investigation never occurred and many of the buildings were destroyed, unrecorded, during the Blitz of 1942.

But Nos. 43, 44 and 45 on Exeter's High Street above are three properties which survived both the Blitz and post-war demolition, Tudor houses buried alive beneath nondescript 19th century facades and later alterations. (Another medieval example was in Milk Street, the bombing of which in 1942 revealed the long-forgotten remnants of a 13th century dwelling which were regrettably demolished during the post-war reconstruction. The war also uncovered the substantial 14th century Bear Tower in South Street, the remains of which were eventually demolished in January 1966 and large fragments of the medieval townhouse of the Priors of Plympton Priory, also in South Street and also demolished in the post-war reconstruction.)

Nos. 43, 44 and 45 High Street all date to the 1500s and are some of the oldest houses still surviving in Exeter. The first point of interest are the very narrow plots which each building occupies, especially that of No. 45, which is just over 9ft (3m) wide. Many of these narrow strips of land are the remains of medieval burgage plots and it's likely that there have been buildings of some sort on exactly the same footprint for perhaps one thousand years. At the beginning of the 20th century many of the buildings in the city centre still respected this ancient division of land. Now it is something of a rarity. The facade of No. 43 (to the far left in the photograph above) is early-19th century with attractive sash windows on the second and third floors, the roof hidden behind the third floor parapet. The round-headed windows on the first floor are a nice touch but it's all a rather poor substitute for the original timber-framed frontage.

No. 44 right is also a mid-16th century timber-frame building and it's likely that it was built as a pair with No. 43 (much like Nos. 41 & 42 and Nos. 46 & 47). In the 18th or 19th century the front was ripped off and replaced with what is little more than a square of rendering with a sash window stuck into the middle of it. Until the beginning of the 20th century this bleak facade was capped with a low pediment which has now disappeared. The building is only two-storeys high. It's possible that it was originally built with more floors but, if so, these were removed a long time ago. The most interesting aspect of the exterior is how the first floor facade jetties out slightly over the High Street, a faint echo of its Tudor forebear.

The frontage of No. 45 (to the far right in the photograph top) is even worse! From the outside it must rank as one of the most forgettable exteriors in the entire city. It looks like a three-storey garden shed. The late-Elizabethan facade was also replaced, probably in the 19th century, and was modified again in the 20th century when a second floor window was blocked up and the current gable installed. The first floor also slightly overhangs the street below. It is slightly later than the other buildings surrounding it, dating to c1600. Inside there are moulded oak beams on the first floor which at least suggest the building's ancestry. There is also a cellar, lined with Heavitree stone, with the remains of steps that once led up into the High Street. It's also likely that when first constructed it didn't replace an earlier building as it occupies a portion of Lamb Alley which led past the side of No. 46 and into the Cathedral Close.

The properties are unfortunate in as much as they are sandwiched between two genuine, if much-restored 16th century facades which only serve to emphasise the loss of the original elevations (below), one of which is the lovely Nos. 41 and 42. Still, apart from a handful of notable exceptions this tiny group is about as good as surviving timber-framed Tudor domestic architecture gets in Exeter now. All three buildings are Grade II listed.

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